Swing Fast, Not Hard

By Chris Foley, PGA Master Professional

There has never been a time in golf when there has been a greater emphasis on distance and speed. The further you drive the ball, the shorter the club you have into the green. The shorter the club, the smaller your shot dispersion!

With that emphasis, I have never seen people swinging with so much force and effort to hit the ball further.

The secret to maximizing your distance potential is hitting the golf ball in the center of the clubface with speed. You shouldn’t ever sacrifice centered contact for more speed and speed and force are two different things.

A golfer with clubhead speeds between 96-99 mph a driver hit in the center of the face will average 246 yards. The same clubhead speed hit on the heal will loose almost 36 yards and average 210 yards. The same speed with a toe hit will lose up 10 yards.

Driver Strike Location	Typical Distance Effect
Center	Best ball speed and distance
High Toe	Often very playable; sometimes minimal loss
Toe	Often around 0-10 yards lost
High Face	Lower spin; may still go a long way
Low Face	More spin, lower launch; often 10+ lost
Heel	Commonly 12-20 yards lost
Low Heel	Worst miss; often 25-35+ yards lost

By focusing on swinging the club as fast as you can while maintaining centered contact you will have the best opportunity to maximize distance!